Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
To Our Community
An Introduction to Georgia Ensemble Theatre's Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Action Plan
The mission of Georgia Ensemble Theatre (GET) is to create connections between artists & audiences of all ages. In order to fulfill our mission, it is crucial that we build and maintain equitable relationships with artists & audiences of all races, identities, and backgrounds. We value selfless ensemble collaboration and embrace the “best idea wins” philosophy. We must codify a process to ensure that all voices are heard and all ideas are considered. This Action Plan lays out goals and a pathway toward ensuring that we hear and amplify the voices of groups who have been underrepresented in the pursuit of our mission.
Georgia Ensemble Theater (GET) is an equal opportunity employer and has always provided equal pay for equal work. However, we recognize that, like many other arts organizations, we have a long way to go to achieve true equality to the extent that our productions, staff, audience, and students truly reflect the diverse Metro Atlanta community we serve. Metro Atlanta’s population is 52% white, 34% Black, 11% Hispanic/Latino, 6% Asian (source: Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce). Metro Atlanta’s population includes about 4.5% LBGTQ persons (source: World Population Review). When we look back at our work, while we are proud of its artistic quality, we can’t say that every community could see themselves represented on our stage by the playwrights, directors, artists, or the stories being told. Theatre artists who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) have been disproportionately underrepresented on stage and behind the scenes at GET.
The events of the summer of 2020 and the new civil rights movement have brought into stark relief how much work we have to do as a nation to repair and build trust in our institutions within the communities of BIPOC Americans. As an arts community and as an institution, we received a sharp wake-up call from the BIPOC Demands for American Theatre/#WeSeeYouWhiteAmericanTheatre movement. A number of local artists have also bravely brought forward specific feedback about where GET has fallen short.
With this feedback in mind, we have worked toward a new Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan. In creating our EDI plan, it was important to us that we don’t just do the minimum. Nor do we want to make slow, small changes. We recognize that the old approach hasn’t worked. We wanted to create an ambitious plan that will include measurable goals.
Because we want to be truly ambitious in creating a theatre that everyone can be a part of and be proud of, some of our goals are aspirational and will take several years to achieve. We will need to partner with the BIPOC community, our artists, our patrons, and the City of Roswell to meet the challenges we will no doubt encounter along the way. We did not want to write a plan of action that would be easily achievable. Frankly, the plan depends on some funding we don’t yet have, and the coronavirus pandemic presents challenges to any effort at planning for the future. Nonetheless, we are committing ourselves to the pursuit of these goals. We promise transparency if we fall short, and transparency in our plan to remedy that.
We believe by enacting these ambitious goals, we are going to have even better-quality performances, reach a larger audience, and be a part of making a more vibrant Atlanta theatre community that everyone can enjoy.
Theatre is for everyone. All audience members should have the chance to see themselves reflected on stage, both in our children’s theatre performances and in our mainstage. Perhaps more importantly, all audience members should have the chance to engage in stories that are different from their own experience. It’s our duty as artists, administrators, and theatre-lovers to reflect a vision for a world where every person, whatever community they identify with, is seen, heard and valued.
We have made mistakes regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion; it is inevitable that we will make other mistakes on our journey. What we can pledge is more transparency around our hiring and casting practices, a sincere commitment to improvement, and making every effort to connect with all of our communities.
We acknowledge that the Roswell Cultural Arts Center and GET Studio are located on land originally held by the Cherokee and Muscogee peoples.
We extend our sincere thanks to members of our community who have generously shared thoughts or concerns with us. We appreciate all of your thoughts and feedback on this plan and our actions in the future.
Each benchmark contained in this document is a goal. Processes, policies, and incremental goals are held by the staff and board of GET and will be reviewed regularly.
Please click the link below to download the Georgia Ensemble Theatre Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Action Plan.
